Category: Gin

Top of the list of my New Year’s Eve libations this year was a cheeky little cocktail called the Lord Suffolk.

Featured in the classic Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930, the Lord Suffolk is a gin based cocktail and believe me, it is deeelicious!!!! It’s so good!

On top of the gin you have herby notes from vermouth, citrus from Cointreau and a nutty flavour from Maraschino liqueur.

This will however knock you flat if you have more than one though so go easy!

I’ve included a cautionary tale via some dating tips from the 1930’s to guide you in the correct etiquette of dealing with the Lord Suffolk so why not make yourself one, sit back, sip up an enjoy!

First Impressions

Him: Is that a nip I see before me? Mummy warned me about loose non-brassièred women like you. Must. Avert. Eyes. OMG, you’ve also got cankles!

Her: Calm down, that’s just my wrinkled stockings.

Pre – Date Chit Chat

Her: I wish I could just tug my girdle around a little bit. I feel it’s making me sit awkwardly. Good thing I have a jawful of Stay Calm Chewing gum or I’d be ready to bury an axe in your boring AF head.

Him: If you snap your gum at me one more time, I’m going to strangle you with my pristine white handkerchief. And BTW you sit like a truck driver with elephantiasis of the testicles. It’s making me weirdly horny.

Out and About

Him: Mummy gave me that hankie. She washed and ironed it specially for me, and now it’s RUINED, you harlot!

Her: If only this was the 21st century where the object I am holding would be a mobile phone and not a compact. I could

a) send a selfie to my bestie asking her if she thinks I should have worn a brassière tonight and,

b) ask her to call me to say she’s had a girdle tugging emergency and needs me to come immediately.

One Lord Suffolk Later

Her: This is the best drink I’ve ever had. Let’s go dance one of those new fangled jitterbugs!

Him: You know, you’re not so bad after all. Waiter, another round of these delightful Lord Suffolk cocktails!

The Dance Floor

Her: You put the boom-boom into my heart, You send my soul sky high when your lovin’ starts
Jitterbug into my brain, Goes a bang-bang-bang ’til my feet do the same. (RIP George Michael!)

Him: STFU! How do you expect me to concentrate on perfecting my moves like Jagger when your incessant idiotic ramblings prevent me from hearing the beat? And whose hat is that?

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How can I have been doing this so long and never have spoken about my unabiding love for the movie Grease? I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have watched it. And I always wanted to be in a cool girl gang like The Pink Ladies. However , today we are not going to talk about my want to be this type of pink lady:

But about a classic cocktail of the same name – possibly the inspiration for the name of the aforementioned girl gang as I believe the Pink Lady was popular drink in the 1950’s. My “French” take on the classic Pink Lady is that, traditionally applejack is an ingredient in a Pink Lady. However, Applejack was not available in my little suburban bottle shop so I subbed in Calvados. Using French Apple brandy is also a teeny homage to one of the Pink Ladies, Frenchie!

So, in the infamous words of Rizzo, “Okay girls, let’s go get ’em”

The Pink Lady has been around for decades, according to the fount of all knowledge Wikipedia, it was already well known in the Prohibition era. It was also the drink of choice of choice of Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield. I’m not sure if she is holding a Pink Lady in the picture below but it’s pink so let’s put two and two together and raise a glass with Jayne! OMG…how glamourous is she! If just ONE day of my life I could have that sort of va-va-voom I would die happy!

Don’t let the sweet and innocent look of the Pink Lady lull you into a false sense of security. This is not girly drink made from sugar and spice and all things nice. The Pink Lady packs a punch! It almost straight gin, topped up with Applejack / Calvados, with a dash of grenadine, a splash of lemon juice and an egg white being the non-alcoholic components.

So, as a little bit of fun, if you are a lover of the Pink Ladies and / or Grease in general, why not take this fun quiz on Vimio?

Pour the gin, calvados, lemon juice and grenadine into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes.

Shake vigorously.

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

By Taryn Fryer

Retro Food For Modern Times http://www.retrofoodformoderntimes.com/

Okay, so….I got Marty “You know, as in cherry”, Maraschino. Very happy to take that. But then again, I would have been happy with any of the Pinks. Except maybe Jan.

I would love to know who you get if you do the quiz! Let me know in the comments!

I am on a work trip to Canberra for the next few days. There will be precious little time for sight-seeing in our Capital city but I’ll try to fit in a run and see if I can get some photos to share with you all. And right now I need to go pack my bag for the flight tomorrow morning!

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Hey, hey – it’s five o’clock somewhere in the world, which means it’s cocktail time! And today I am taking a twist on the cucumber and mint gin cocktail called the Old Maid and adding some floral notes to make a gorgeous Rosy Old Maid!

Pretty huh?

And taking that as our cue, how about we kill this beast of a myth of the Old Maid?

Bachelor has the connotation of someone being footloose and fancy free, a playboy, a man about town. Old Maid and it’s sister word, spinster have no such positive associations. Take for instance, this discussion I had with my beloved mother some time before I met the fussiest eater in the world. I had to pick her up from some function – church group, art group, book club, some place where I knew not one of her cronies. And this happened:

“So when you get there, come in and you meet everyone. But don’t worry; I’ve told them you’re not a lesbian.”

“Ooooooookayyyyyyyyyy……eeeeeerrrrrmmmmmm…..I guess I’m not a lot of things….any particular reason you chose to share that one?”

“Well. You’re thirty years old and not married. I thought they would think there was something wrong with you”.

“Well, they probably still think that. But now they know I’m not getting any girl action as well as any boy action….you actually made it worse”

“So what should I tell them?”

“Either that I have a genetically inherited obnoxious personality disorder or to mind their own business”.

So, the Rosy Old Maid is pretty as a picture, sexy, sassy, sweet to look at but also with a powerful kick! This Old Maid is bold and confident This is a drink that knows it’s worth and is comfortable with its place in the world. And that’s the image we want to take with us when we talk about Old Maids in future.

I used Hendricks in this because it totally matched the rose and cucumber flavours in the cocktail. If not using Hendricks, I would suggest using an extra drop of rosewater.

No way! You have 21 fascinating episodes of murder, madness, conspiracy and stray right feet washing up on beaches before you can get to that reveal. Having said that, there’s no need to be daunted, the Tanis back catalogue is still small enough that you could binge listen to it all in a weekend.

So get onto it. It is actually one of those things that is also worth a second (or third ) listen.

You could have a Geoff Van Sant moment and grab a beer while you listen. Or, even better, make this super dry, super citrussy cocktail called The Navigator.

The Navigator & Clues to Tanis

The Navigator is to Eld Fen what the runner is to Tanis. Basically, to get there you need one. And you also need a map.

But maybe not a map like this.

Because even when you have a Navigator / Runner, you can only get to Eld Fen / Tanis when the stars don’t align.

As soon as I heard about the stars not aligning my first thought went to the line from Space Oddity, “And the stars look very different today”. I don’t think it’s at all relevant but except maybe for the writers tipping their hat and giving a little nod to the late, great Mr David Bowie. I hope it’s that and the twist about to come is not aliens.

The Navigator Cocktail

I found this on the ever reliable, always excellent Difford’s Guide.

Dry Gin, Limoncello and Pink Grapefruit Juice…three of my favorite things! I added some additional lemon juice to mine. I figured that if I was going to cut open a lemon from the garnish, I may as well use some of it in the drink too!

Tanis Speculation

I have no doubt Nic is about to go into the forest again but with whom? Per the first series, you need four. So, Nic, The Navigator and two others.

If I was Nic, I’d take Geoff Van Sant and MK. But then, given the choice, I’d probably take GVS and MK anywhere with me. They’re the best. I think GVS is my secret podcast crush. What can I say, I happen to have a thing for guys with messy hair and alert eyes who like a drink or two. And in my head he looks like Paul from Orphan Black. And that is never a bad thing!

And MK is just the best. She may also be my secret podcast crush!

I can’t wait…the series two final is fast approaching….I will try to align my fourth (and final) cocktail with that happening!

Breaking News!

Ladies of the PNW who need a thrilling secret conspiracy to liven up their lives? GVS is trying dating again. Why not have a beer with him?

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We are continuing the wartime theme from last time with a delightful gin cocktail called Rosé The Riveter.

I’m going to just come out and say it. I love this drink. Here are five reasons why:

The Name. I love a pun and this is the best!

The ingredients – gin, pomegranate liqueur, and rosé wine – all super delicious. This was never going to be not tasty!

It’s named after all round good girl and feminist icon, Rosie the Riveter.

It fits perfectly with my wartime theme from the last post where I made Lemon Potato Pie from 1941

I got to put a victory roll in my hair (worst Victory Roll ever but so much fun to do).

Now you might be wondering why there are two drinks in the pictures. It’s because I made the Rosé The Riveter two ways.

The first was with what is normally my favourite gin, Hendricks. Hendricks is also the gin used in the original recipe.

The second way, I used my brand new Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz Gin. This gin is made locally in the Yarra Valley. Four Pillars make it by steeping their gin in shiraz grapes for 8 weeks. The gin is a gorgeous red wine colour and tastes super on it’s own or with tonic.

I loved both of these but it is amazing how two gins can taste (and look) so different. The Hendricks version was much paler in colour and much lighter in taste too. The it was lovely and floral, not to sweet. It would be a perfect summer cocktail. The Bloody Shiraz Rosé The Riveter was quite different. It tasted a lot dryer, a lot less floral but more berry, winey. This, for me is a more wintery cocktail – deeper and darker than the Hendricks version.

And here’s me doing my best Rosie the Riveter impression. I don’t have a chambray shirt because I don’t live in 1985 so my usual weekend wear of striped t-shirt had to suffice. Also, I had to steal the bandana from Oscar!